After several years of leaning heavily on sequels and good-but-not-great properties, the Pixar we all know and love is back with Inside Out to reclaim its title as a beacon of emotional honesty in the spastic, cynical world of family entertainment. Its long history of tugging at audience’s heartstrings by making us empathize with unlikely protagonists for animated films—from monsters to toys to lonely widowers—has reached its logical conclusion with this tale of literal emotions on a fantastical journey inside the brain of a young girl dealing with life’s complexities for the first time. Equal parts adventure through the mysteries of the mind and metaphor for emotional growth, the catharsis and introspection you’ll get from Inside Out is worth far more than the price of admission.
Inside the head of a young girl named Riley exists a command center inhabited by five emotions/characters: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. Each emotion takes control of Riley momentarily, guiding her through life from the moment she’s born, creating memories in the shape of crystal balls that are then imbued with that emotion’s sensibility. Until age 11, Joy has taken the lead, and virtually all core memories that shape Riley have been happy ones. When her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, things start to change for Riley and the emotions in her head, and Sadness begins to have an unexplainable effect on formerly happy memories simply by coming into contact with them, leading her and Joy on a journey through Riley’s brain to reverse the ensuing damage. As the emotions struggle to keep order, Riley herself begins acting differently for reasons neither she nor those around her can understand.
There are many triumphs in Inside Out, from its engaging narrative to impeccable casting to its richly inspired silliness. Chief among these attributes is its ability to explore the depth of a single defining experience in a young person’s life and give it the depth it deserves. Plotwise, there is nothing in young Riley’s story that wouldn’t fit into a simplistic public service announcement, and it would be easy to play to an audience’s sympathy by showing a girl who’s sad that she left all of her friends behind. But individual moments in a person’s life are far more emotionally complex than the moment-by-moment facts of how they transpire. By taking this approach to the story, director Phil Docter is able to explore just how confusing Riley’s journey is without putting words in her mouth that a child in her circumstances would normally never say. She doesn’t fully understand what’s going on in her head because neither do her emotions, and once the emotions themselves come to a greater understanding of their true role, Riley is able to make more sense of herself and the world around her.
An empathetic cry is far more cathartic than a sympathetic one, and after being buttered up by the touching accompanying short Lava, that’s exactly what you’re in for with Inside Out. Not only is it the funniest, most honest and insightful film that Pixar has ever made, it’s a useful tool for anyone struggling with establishing a healthy relationship with her own emotions.
Playing this week
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Dope
Entourage
I’ll See You In My Dreams
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
Pitch Perfect 2
San Andreas
Spy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
244-3213
